At first, Mu Xueshi did not see any sign of Yue Lingchai, so he secretly rejoiced and tiptoed toward his room.
“Ah!” Mu Xueshi cried out in alarm.
Yue Lingchai was actually inside his room, watching him enter with a perfectly calm and composed expression. If she had immediately launched into a furious scolding, Mu Xueshi would at least have known what to expect. If she had simply attacked and beaten him, he would not have been so worried either. But seeing her look at him as though nothing had happened made Mu Xueshi’s mind go cold, and he dropped to his knees with a thud.
“Aunt, it was too stuffy underground, so I went up to get some fresh air.”
“I never said I was going to blame you. Why are you panicking so much?” Yue Lingchai said faintly.
Mu Xueshi swallowed and cautiously said, “Aunt, if you want to punish me, then go ahead. I can endure anything. Just don’t drive me away. My martial arts have only just begun improving.”
“If you merely went out for some fresh air, why is there so much blood on you?”
When Yue Lingchai asked this, Mu Xueshi visibly grew uneasy.
“I… I only went out to uphold justice…”
“Going out in the middle of the night to uphold justice sounds rather unconvincing, does it not?”
“I prefer to keep a low profile…” Seeing Yue Lingchai walk toward him, Mu Xueshi hurriedly raised his voice. “I accidentally ran into some thieves and fought with them. But I was outnumbered, so I got injured.”
“Forget it. Get up and follow me to the training room so I can treat your injury.”
“Yes. Thank you, Aunt.”
Mu Xueshi became so excited that he stood too quickly and pulled at his wound, immediately grimacing in pain.
“You brought it upon yourself.”
Although Yue Lingchai said this, her heart still ached for him. Seeing him in such a state, she could no longer bear to carry out any of the punishments she had originally considered.
After recuperating for two days, Mu Xueshi gradually recovered and resumed practicing martial arts with Qingyun.
“Once you master this set of techniques, ordinary juniors who have only recently entered the jianghu will no longer be a problem for you. Even against those with some genuine ability, you will be capable of putting up a fight.”
Although Mu Xueshi appeared impatient, once he truly began practicing, he refused to overlook even the smallest mistake. Compared with Qingyun, Mu Xueshi was even more capable of enduring hardship. Apart from eating, he spent nearly all his time practicing, leaving himself pitifully little time to sleep.
Seeing that Qingyun could no longer defeat Mu Xueshi, the corners of Yue Lingchai’s lips could not help lifting into a smile.
Mu Xueshi slept only four hours each day, and even during those four hours, he would toss and turn while letting his thoughts wander. Had those black-clad men from last time all been imprisoned? Why had they tried to assassinate the Third Prince? Did they have accomplices? Would someone else come to assassinate the Third Prince?
Once Mu Xueshi began thinking about this, all traces of sleepiness vanished. The more he thought, the more alert he became, until he finally had no choice but to sit up again.
I can’t keep going on like this. I have to think of a way to cure this worry in my heart so I can devote myself completely to practicing martial arts.
In the end, the solution Mu Xueshi came up with was to go out and investigate once more. He would uncover the backgrounds of those people, then ask his aunt to help eliminate them. She was the Third Prince’s aunt, after all. Surely she would not stand aside and ignore something like this.
With this thought, Mu Xueshi took out the silver coin. This time, he could not personally sneak outside and risk danger. Not only might his aunt catch him, but if he ran into his master again, he might not be lucky enough to escape.
Mu Xueshi thought for a moment and decided it would be convenient to transfer into the body of a guard. In that case, he might as well choose Lu Fei, who usually stood guard outside Qingyun Palace.
Mu Xueshi obediently lay down on the bed, pulled the quilt over himself, and began reciting the incantation.
When Mu Xueshi opened his eyes this time, he was standing outside Qingyun Palace. Another person was guarding beside him—Lu Fei’s younger brother, Lu Fan.
Lu Fan yawned, looking extremely sleepy.
“Lu Fan, let your brother stand guard for you. Go sleep for a while. If anything happens, I’ll come wake you.”
Mu Xueshi spoke to Lu Fan with an impressive imitation of his brother.
Lu Fan shook his head. “There’s no need. Haven’t you also been awake this whole time? Once the palace quiets down later, we can take turns standing watch.”
Mu Xueshi nodded, secretly thinking that the Third Prince was probably sleeping inside Qingyun Palace tonight. To confirm his guess, he turned his head and looked inside through the crack in the door.
“Brother, what are you doing?”
Mu Xueshi quickly pulled his head back and gave two awkward laughs. “Nothing. I was checking whether His Highness was inside.”
“Hasn’t His Highness stopped sleeping in Qingyun Palace for a long time?” Lu Fan looked at “Lu Fei” in confusion.
Mu Xueshi could not understand this and asked, “Why does His Highness no longer stay in Qingyun Palace? Was the room burned during the last fire and still not properly repaired?”
After hearing Lu Fei’s words, Lu Fan moved closer and carefully examined him, confirming that this was indeed his older brother and not someone in disguise.
“Brother, are you so tired that you’ve become confused? Ever since Young Master Xue died, His Highness has not allowed craftsmen into these rooms again. They’ve remained abandoned like this. But I heard they might be demolished and rebuilt soon.”
Demolished… A sudden bitterness rose in Mu Xueshi’s heart. Although none of this had anything to do with him anymore, hearing the news still made him feel sad.
“Then where does His Highness the Third Prince live now?”
Hearing Lu Fei ask something he clearly ought to know, Lu Fan truly no longer had the energy to humor him. He turned his head aside and ignored Mu Xueshi.
After a while, Mu Xueshi could no longer remain standing quietly and asked Lu Fan again, “Since His Highness is not inside this room, why are we still guarding it?”
“Shh…” Lu Fan gestured for Mu Xueshi to remain silent.
Mu Xueshi had heard it too. There was movement nearby. He listened carefully and identified the direction from which the sound was coming. He quietly tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword and waited for the assassin to approach.
Before long, Mu Xueshi heard a faint rustling across the roof. He exchanged a glance with Lu Fan, then both of them leapt into the air and landed on the roof, blocking a group of black-clad men.
There were six or seven people this time. They probably had not expected to be discovered so quickly and hurriedly attempted to retreat. When Lu Fan saw “Lu Fei” attacking ruthlessly, he shouted, “Brother, don’t kill them! We need them alive!”
Mu Xueshi visibly froze when he heard this. By the time he reacted, the men had already fled.
Mu Xueshi pursued them relentlessly. He exchanged several moves with them along the way, but every time, he was at a disadvantage. Gradually, he realized that continuing like this was unwise. He took out the silver coin, and after a flash of white light, entered the body of one of the men.
Just like that, Mu Xueshi went from pursuing them to fleeing alongside them.
“Brother Qiao, we’ve already shaken off the people behind us. We don’t need to keep running.”
After one of them said this, the others all stopped to rest in a field of wild grass.
“How pathetic. We failed again today.”
“Do you think the Third Prince is so easy to kill? The reason we managed to break in those previous times was because His Highness deliberately arranged it. He wanted to capture us alive and force us to reveal our background. Even if we die, we cannot disclose Master’s name.”
“That’s right. Master’s kindness toward us is as weighty as a mountain. Even if we die, we must avenge him.”
“Revenge? Revenge for what?” Mu Xueshi muttered inwardly, not expecting the words to slip out of his mouth.
The black-clad man beside Mu Xueshi immediately kicked him and cursed, “You little bastard, did a donkey kick your brain? How could you forget what Master told us?”
Mu Xueshi secretly gritted his teeth. He had not expected the person he had chosen to possess to be the most useless one among them.
“Are we returning to the gang now, or staying here and waiting for another opportunity?”
The man they called Brother Qiao furrowed his brows tightly and said, “We cannot return to Qinyi Courtyard tonight. They must already be prepared, waiting for us to walk into their trap. Many of our brothers have gone inside and never come back out. Unless we are completely certain, we cannot take another risk.”
“Then let’s return to the gang.”
“Do we have the face to return to the gang like this?”
After hearing Brother Qiao’s words, the black-clad men sat down among the weeds, all looking thoroughly dejected.
Mu Xueshi sat down with them and even found a large tree to lean against, intending to listen to their conversation. In the end, not a single one of them spoke. They all closed their eyes and went to sleep, and some even began snoring.
Unwilling to have come all this way for nothing, Mu Xueshi poked the man sleeping beside him and asked, “Why did Master send us to kill the Third Prince?”
The black-clad man shot Mu Xueshi a piercing glare, making him tremble and think that his identity had been exposed. But the man merely looked at him for a while before closing his eyes and returning to sleep.
Mu Xueshi no longer dared question him, so he shifted to sit beside someone who appeared to have a better temper and whispered, “Why did Master send us to kill the Third Prince?”
Without saying a word, the man smacked the back of Mu Xueshi’s head, making stars burst before his eyes.
Mu Xueshi shrank his neck and retreated to his original position.
Unexpectedly, the man who had glared at him earlier opened his eyes again, stared blankly at Mu Xueshi for a while, and asked, “How long have you been in the gang?”
“Uh… about half a year.”
Mu Xueshi relaxed slightly. It turned out they were not very familiar with one another either.
“You don’t know why Master ordered us to kill the Third Prince?”
Mu Xueshi shook his head.
The man suddenly seized Mu Xueshi by the collar and lifted him, his face turning vicious as he gritted his teeth and said, “Because he killed the woman Master loved, along with her unborn child. The Third Prince murdered a mother and child so cruelly that he is worse than a beast. Master took us in and raised us. His hatred is our hatred. You must remember it well and avenge Master.”
Mu Xueshi’s entire body stiffened…
Futile Devices Scans 
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